Can victory over Cardiff be the turning point for West Ham?

On their last visit to Cardiff in May 2012, a 2-0 win in the play-offs proved crucial in getting West Ham back into the Premier League.

Today, another victory by the same margin may turn out to be the start of their bid to stay in it.

At last, after weeks of under-performance and drooping heads, finally they put the pieces together, and produced the kind of display the fans and the league position were crying out for. Losing Guy Demel to injury early on, and James Tomkins to a red card in the closing stages – minor distractions; this was a game they were going to win, and nothing would stop them.

With many of his other cards played to no effect, after conceding 11 goals in three days of the club’s most embarrassing week in recent memory, manager Sam Allardyce said he hoped anger would inspire the team, and rather than the home side with the dragon crest on their shirts, it was West Ham who played with fire in their bellies.

If any more motivation was needed, it was surely provided by new Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s pre-match address to the home fans, with its implications of the day being his welcoming party, and West Ham and their fans being little more than catering staff to pass round the canapes and clean up the glasses.

It smacked of the inauguration of the new king, not a competitive match – and if West Ham were expected to stick to a script, then it was news to them.

Stewart Downing hit the post early on as West Ham began with uncharacteristic purpose, but it was not until near the end of a half extended by Demel’s injury that they went ahead, capitalising on a lucky deflection off referee Lee Mason, with Matt Jarvis setting up Carlton Cole to score.

With so much attention on West Ham’s woes, it seemed to be largely overlooked that Cardiff were deep in the mire too, and they offered little in the way of attack as they tried to get back into the match, even after Tomkins was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Soon after, Andy Carroll entered the fray for his first appearance of the season, and at the death, captain Mark Noble gave the travelling fans more reasons to be cheerful, rounding off a counter-attack with West Ham’s clincher.

The mixture of cheers and sighs of relief at the final whistle could probably be heard back in East London. Psychologically and points-wise, this was as big a win as they have had all season (and one which put Cardiff in the bottom three).

It came at a cost – another injury and suspension – but the important thing was, it came at all. With Newcastle and Chelsea up next in the league, points dropped by relegation rivals will prove as important as any they pick up themselves, but at last, there is something to cheer. Does the comeback start here? Only time will tell.